César Bernardo Arévalo de León (; born 7 October 1958) is a Guatemalan diplomat, sociologist, writer, and politician who has served as the 52nd president of Guatemala since 2024. A member and co-founder of the defunct Semilla party, he previously served as a deputy in the Congress of Guatemala from 2020 to 2024, as ambassador to Spain from 1995 to 1996 and as deputy minister of foreign affairs from 1994 to 1995.
Arévalo was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, during the exile of his father, former president Juan José Arévalo. He graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a bachelor of arts in sociology. In the 1980s, Arévalo joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He held several key positions, including deputy minister of foreign affairs and ambassador to Spain. After his diplomatic service, he joined Interpeace, where he served as an advisor on conflict resolution. Later, he graduated from Utrecht University with a doctorate in philosophy and social anthropology. Arévalo returned to Guatemala as a result of the 2015 protests, where he co-founded an analysis group that later became the Movimiento Semilla political party. He was elected as a member of Congress in the 2019 election, then as general secretary of the party in 2022.
Arévalo was nominated as a presidential candidate in the 2023 general election and, surprisingly qualified for the second round, triggering accusations of electoral fraud and a judicial investigation into his party and its members, threatening the election results, which was widely condemned nationally and internationally. He defeated former first lady Sandra Torres in the second round on 20 August 2023. His electoral victory made him the first son of a former Guatemalan president to be elected as president and the second individual not born in Guatemala to hold the office. The Organization of American States stepped in to support and facilitate the presidential transition. Arévalo was sworn in on 15 January, following a lengthy delay in the certification of the results by the outgoing Congress.
Arévalo's administration has been characterized by the implementation of primarily symbolic measures and by moderate legislative achievements in agriculture, health, economy, and infrastructure. Progress has also been recorded in education, labor, foreign relations, tourism, culture, and sports. He has faced strong opposition from the judiciary, the Congress of the Republic and the establishment. However, factors such as government inexperience, political miscalculations, the rising cost of living, and persistent violence have weakened his administration, leading to a decline in popularity and to widespread perceptions of a limited or ineffective government.
Early life and education Arévalo was born on 7 October 1958 in Montevideo, Uruguay, the son of Juan José Arévalo (1904–1990), president of Guatemala from 1945 to 1951, and his second wife, Margarita de León (born in 1925). At the time of Arévalo's birth, his father was living in political exile in South America following the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
Arévalo's family left Uruguay when he was less than two years old, and he spent parts of his childhood living in Venezuela, Mexico, and Chile. He went to Guatemala for the first time at the age of 15 to study at the Liceo Guatemala, a private Catholic school in Guatemala City.
While his father was serving as the ambassador of Guatemala to Israel, Arévalo attended and graduated from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with a bachelor's degree in sociology. At the Hebrew University, he studied the history of Christianity in Latin America. He then obtained a doctorate in philosophy and social anthropology from Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
Diplomatic career Arévalo joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs during the 1980s as a diplomat. Between 1984 and 1986, he was the first secretary and consul at the Guatemalan embassy in Israel and subsequently acted as minister counselor from 1987 to 1988.
In 1988, Arévalo returned to Guatemala, where he was appointed deputy director of strategic studies and planning, again within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He went on to serve as director of bilateral foreign policy from 1990 to 1991, international bilateral relations from 1992 to 1993, and international economic and multilateral relations from 1993 to 1994.
In 1994, President Ramiro de León Carpio appointed Arévalo deputy minister of foreign affairs, a role Arévalo held until 1995. During his time as deputy minister, President of Mexico Ernesto Zedillo decorated Arévalo with the Order of the Aztec Eagle in 1995.
In 1995, Foreign Minister Alejandro Maldonado appointed Arévalo as Guatemala's ambassador to Spain; that same year, he presented his credentials to King Juan Carlos I. In 1996, Arévalo left his position as ambassador as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Professional career After leaving his career as a diplomat, Arévalo served on the board and acted as its president. From 1999, Arévalo held various roles at Interpeace, including advising on peacebuilding and conflict resolution in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
In addition to his peacekeeping work, Arévalo also worked as an advisor to organizations, including the United Nations, the United States Institute of Peace, and the University of San Diego. He has written books and articles on history, politics, sociology, and diplomacy.
Political career
In 2015, Arévalo took part in the 2015 Guatemalan protests demanding the resignation of President Otto Pérez Molina. Shortly after the demonstrations, Arévalo was among a group of intellectuals who formed Semilla, a think tank that subsequently was developed into the political party Movimiento Semilla ("Seed Movement") in 2017.
Arévalo was announced as Semilla's preferred candidate for the 2019 presidential election but ultimately declined the candidacy. He was succeeded by Thelma Aldana, who was eventually prohibited from running. Arévalo instead ran as a candidate for Congress on the national list and was elected as a congressman in the first round of the 2019 general election, becoming one of seven candidates from the Semilla party to win a seat for the ninth session of Congress. After taking office on 14 January 2020, he served on the committees for foreign affairs, governance, human rights, national security, and national defense and led the Semilla parliamentary bloc between 2020 and 2022. In 2022, he was elected as the general secretary of Semilla, succeeding Samuel Pérez Álvarez.
During his four years as a deputy, Arévalo took on the role of a rapporteur for several bills. These bills dealt with various issues such as cutting off cellular connections to prisons, extending social security benefits to migrants, deputies, and workers in the informal sector, providing stricter penalties for animal abuse, and regulating the prices of pharmaceutical products.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Arévalo and the other members of the Semilla party introduced a bill that would have provided temporary relief to the populace. The bill proposed a budget of 10 million quetzals, with each person receiving 1500 quetzals per month for the duration of the pandemic. In March 2022, Arévalo was the rapporteur for a legislative proposal calling on President Alejandro Giammattei to take action against Russia following its invasion of Ukraine. The proposal included the cancellation of the mining license of the Compañía Guatemalteca de Níquel, a nickel-mining company that is owned by the Russian company Solway Investment Group. In addition, the legislation called for the cancellation of the contract with the Russian government regarding the Sputnik V vaccines.
2023 presidential campaign On 22 January 2023, Arévalo was announced as Semilla's presidential candidate for the 2023 election, running alongside Karin Herrera as his vice-presidential running mate. He was officially registered by the Supreme Electoral Tribunal on 16 February 2023. During his campaign, his supporters referred to him as Tío Bernie () in reference to both his name and his similarity to American politician and former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Arévalo's campaigning focused on addressing state corruption and insecurity in Guatemala, as well as generating employment opportunities and promoting climate change policies.
Initial polling by Prensa Libre in April 2023 showed Arévalo ranked next to last among the candidates, with 0.7% of people polled stating their intention to vote for him. Subsequent polls showed support for Arévalo hovering around 2% in June and May 2023.
During the first round of the 2023 election, Arévalo placed second with over 600,000 votes and faced a second-round run-off against Sandra Torres, a former first lady of Guatemala and candidate of the National Unity of Hope party. Arévalo's second place was described as a "surprise" by El País and BBC News. Semilla also received a large share of the votes, positioning it as the third largest party in Congress, the Central American Parliament, and the Guatemala City municipal government.
Certification and legal challenges
The certification of the results was delayed due to a controversial appeal granted by the Constitutional Court to nine right-wing parties, including the ruling party, Vamos. Those parties challenged the result, alleging "irregularities" and "electoral fraud" in favor of Arévalo, and went as far as to request a fresh election. The Court ordered a new review of the contested results, which was carried out during the first week of July. The new review found no significant changes in the preliminary results. Subsequently, the Supreme Court dismissed the appeal made by the parties and authorized the Supreme Electoral Court to formalize the election results.
On 12 July 2023, the TSE formalized the election results; at the same time, prosecutor Rafael Curruchiche of the Public Prosecution Service announced, at the request of Judge Fredy Orellana, the suspension of Semilla due to allegations of falsifying signatures to establish the party in 2017. Arévalo, in a CNN interview, stated that he would challenge the suspension, claiming that the court had "no legal substance" to make the order. Similarly, legal experts affirmed that Orellana did not act in accordance with the country's election laws.
On 13 July 2023, the Constitutional Court, the highest court for constitutional law, guaranteed Arévalo's participation although it was ambiguous about the status of the party, allowing the second round of the presidential election to proceed. Nevertheless, demonstrations were organized calling for the resignation of Attorney General María Consuelo Porras, prosecutor Curruchiche, and Judge Orellana. Arévalo and his vice presidential candidate, Karin Herrera, were present at the demonstration and filed a criminal complaint against Curruchiche and Orellana.
Members of the United States Congress called on President Joe Biden to impose sanctions on those responsible for "threatening democracy" in Guatemala and expressed concerns about actions being taken against Arévalo's candidacy. Twenty former leaders from Latin America and Spain issued a joint statement condemning attempts made to disqualify Arévalo from the election, and compared it to the recent disqualification of Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado.
Presidential transition
The Electoral and Political Party Act restricts a political party's general secretary from presiding over the executive branch. Accordingly, on 29 November, Arévalo renounced his affiliation with Semilla and stepped down as the party's general secretary.